Coppola Skipping Cannes

Thierry Frémaux thought he made Francis Ford Coppola an offer that he couldn’t refuse. The result. Tetro (06.11.2009) won’t be showcased on the Croisette this year. The first sign that perhaps the film is not strong enough for a competition slot, or further proof that some old school American filmmakers (e.g. Woody Allen) aren’t getting the preferred red carpet treatment from yesteryear.

Anne Thompson points to a statement that was made to The Circuit’s Mike Jones (his blog is now hosted with Indiewire.com). Coppola confirmed that he received an invite but not of the Main Competition slot kind. Too bad, I was hoping to see Vincent Gallo make his great comeback in the south of France after the Brown Bunny fiasco. The statement would explain yesterday’s confirmation that Tetro will be showcased in Seattle, but why would Coppola pass on a Cannes invite of any kind? I think it does the crew and cast more of a disservice by not baiting the international press into covering a film that sprawls onto a couple of continents.

“While I very much appreciate the invitation, this is an independent film, self-financed and self released, and I felt that being invited for a non-competition gala screening wasn’t true to the personal and independent nature of this film. . More important than Cannes, our team can focus all our time, energy and resources into the U.S. release this June 11th.”